The new Alpine Celebration Goodwood show car is the glamorous centrepiece of this famous sporting brand’s display at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Alpine will celebrate 60 years of pedal-to-the-metal race and road cars at Goodwood this year, featuring demonstrations and displays not only of the exciting new Alpine Celebration Goodwood, but of many famous cars from its past.
Most of these cars will run up the hill on Friday in a single celebratory batch, while Lord March will drive the Alpine Celebration Goodwood up the hill in the first run to open this year’s Festival of Speed.
Alpine Celebration Goodwood
A compact sports car inspired by Alpine’s motorsport heritage, the Alpine Celebration Goodwood is a two-seater coupé with sleek, flowing lines. Its colour scheme has been specially created for the Goodwood Festival of Speed to commemorate 60 years of heritage, celebrated by a blazon on the side and rear, and will be seen for the first time at the opening of this year’s Festival. The ‘Goodwood’ moniker in the show car’s name recognises the event, as well as this new livery, and distinguishes it from the Alpine Celebration Le Mans show car that appeared at the 24 hour race earlier this month.
The deep blue colour scheme is the same blue that adorns the Alpine prototypes that made a triumphant return to endurance racing in 2013. It is a livery referencing the Alpine models that played such a pivotal role in the brand’s original Le Mans adventure when, from 1963 to 1969, the M63, M64, M65, A210, A220 and even the A110 so valiantly upheld French honour in La Sarthe.
The Alpine Celebration Goodwood faithfully replicates the timeless style of Alpines of old whilst adding a modern twist. Its low profile, sloping, creased bonnet, sculpted sides, distinctive rear window and other design details are all clear echoes of models like the A110 that have featured so prominently in Alpine’s glorious history.
With no need for gimmickry to stand out from the crowd, the beauty of the Alpine Celebration Goodwood resides in its simplicity. Mindful of remaining elegant whilst at the same time responding to the need for frugality and efficiency, the Alpine Celebration Goodwood show car reveals much about the brand’s heritage. If it retains a familiar style and set of values, it integrates them in a thoroughly modern manner. Carbon detailing is used to highlight the high-tech features of the car’s body, from its spoiler to the side sills, diffuser, rear air intakes and mirrors.
The positioning of the masked double headlamps and the central round lights barred by a white cross will remind fans of the adhesive strips that used to be found on the headlights of Alpine’s rally cars. It was formerly a means of holding the lenses together should they be broken.
The apparently floating spoiler framing the Alpine’s bold nose strength, whilst the visual impression of poise and efficiency is enhanced by the straight, sharp lines of the side sills. The mirrors, meanwhile, incorporate a thin mirror that seems to be suspended free of its housing to heighten the dynamic, lightweight and aerodynamically efficient feel. The famous Alpine arrowed ‘A’ is visible on the air intake grille, sides, front wings and roof.
The design of the wheels recalls a style that was popular on the A110 and A310 models during the 1970s. They reveal the prominent brake discs and orange brake callipers. In the middle is a one-piece cast aluminium hub – another element that contributes to the overall styling.
The athletic rear integrates air intakes built into the rear quarter panels to contribute to engine cooling. The engine cover – which can be spied through the louvered motifs of the rear window – reveals the mid-rear positioning of the power plant.
Above the wheel arches, scoops guide airflow in a manner that is unmistakeably Alpine. The rear of the vehicle is characterised by an impressive diffuser that incorporates a central rear light, flanked by two brushed stainless steel exhaust tailpipes. The approach throughout is very clearly to highlight rather than conceal the car’s structural elements. The result suggests low weight, agility and rewarding performance.
That said, the true significance of the Alpine Celebration Goodwood show car is to be found in its design – all flowing, sensual curves – which single-handedly symbolises the very essence of driving pleasure à la française.
Alpine A106
Rédélé’s first production car, the A106 was based on the popular 4CV saloon, highly tuned versions of which he had raced very successfully. Rédélé reckoned that with a special lightweight body the 4CV would be swifter still. In fact, he had already commissioned talented Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti to design aluminium coachwork for a lighter 4CV, this pretty one-off coupe built by coachbuilders Allemano. The 4CV Spécial Sport turned out to be a major giant-killer in the 1953 Dieppe rally.
At much the same Rédélé had become interested in glassfibre technology, had grown keener to become a car manufacturer in his own right and had heard about a wealthy American industrialist by the name of Zark W. Reed. Reed wanted to build plastic-bodied sportscar to sell in the US against MG and Triumph. The two met, and devised a plan for Reed’s Plasticar company to build a grp-bodied version of the Michelotti car called the Marquis. The project ultimately came to nothing, but provided inspiration for the A106, as did a second 4CV rebody Rédélé had ordered from Italian coachbuilder Allemano.
In 1955 Rédélé presented three A 106s in red, white and blue to Renault CEO Pierre Dreyfus, their glassfibre bodywork manufactured by Chappe et Gasselin. The A106 was primarily intended as a racing car and offered with various power outputs, suspension set-ups, weight reductions and a (pricey) five-speed gearbox option. But demand for road-going versions saw it appearing at the 1957 Paris motor show, alongside a new Michelotti-designed cabriolet. Larger Renault Dauphine engines and even a spaceframe chassis were eventually offered, 251 A106s produced between 1955-59 at the company’s Dieppe factory.
Alpine A108
The A108 was a coupe version of Michelotti’s restyled A 106 cabriolet, based on the 4CV’s Dauphine successor. It appeared with the A106 at the ’57 Paris show powered by a 37bhp Gordini version of the Dauphine’s four-cylinder 845cc engine. Like its predecessor the A108 was glassfibre-bodied on a pressed steel platform. But Rédélé developed a more advanced version called the GT4, which used a steel backbone chassis, cradles at either end carrying the suspension, powertrain and steering gear. It rode on a 7cm longer wheelbase and appeared in 1963, only a year after the Lotus Elan was launched using the same arrangement.
Although less than 100 GT4’s were built, its structural composition was the basis for the legendary A110, whose styling was a highly successful evolution of the A 108’s look. Rédélé’s dream of overseas production was also realized with the A108, the car built under licence in Brazil by Willys-Overland to become the country’s first sports car. Renamed the Willys Interlagos, it was produced in Sao Paolo and enjoyed plenty of competition success. An impressive 822 were built from 1960 to 1965 – more than the 236 Alpine A108s built in Dieppe between 1960-62.
Alpine A110
The A110 Berlinette was an evolution of the A108, but a very significant one. It harnessed hardware from the Renault R8 rather than its Dauphine predecessor, and ran with engines that regularly became more powerful. Like the Alpine GT4, it was built around a backbone chassis to which its mechanicals were bolted, its exceptionally low body made from lightweight glassfibre. It was launched with a 1108cc engine which grew to 1255cc, then 1565cc, 1605cc and finally 1647cc for the Berlinetta SX. Aesthetically it changed relatively little over the years, not least because it was already very attractive. But there were many minor changes, among them a front grille with four headlights, widened wings, a front-mounted radiator, a removable rear skirt revised wheel designs and more.
Unusually for a relatively low volume car, the A110 was also produced under licence in Spain and Mexico. In total some 7,500 Berlinettes were produced between 1961 and 1965, the car shining in every competitive arena it entered. But its most famous exploits were on rally stages of the early ‘70s, Alpine winning the 1973 World Rally Championship with the car as well as many other victories.
The Alpine A110 Berlinette was the car that cemented Alpine’s reputation, and turned it international, besides giving dozens of drivers, professional and amateur, the taste of victory.
Alpine M65
A purpose-built sports prototype, the M65 was developed during a fertile design era for endurance racing cars triggered by the so called ‘Index of Performance’. This ingenious handicap system promoted all kinds of experimentation with mechanical layout, engine size and aerodynamics, cars scoring for efficiency as well as speed, Alpine winning it in 1964 with the M64.
The befinned M65 was powered by a Gordini-tuned 1300 engine that started life as the 1100 unit used by the Renault 8 Gordini. Its 130bhp was impressive for the engine’s size, and coupled with the M65’s modest 669kg and fish-like slipperiness, allowed the Alpine to run at over 160mph on the Mulsanne straight.
In 1965 it won the 1300cc class at the Reims 12 Hours, topping that with a startling win in the Nürburgring 500km race, pair of M65s appearing at Le Mans in the same year, although Mauro Bianchi and Henri Grandsire would retire on lap 32.
Alpine A110 1800 Groupe 4
A competition version of the A110, this Groupe 4 car is powered by the largest engine used by the model. By this point the A110 was beginning to be beaten in rallies, but only after a long period of success that included a World Rally Championship win in 1973.
Alpine A442 B
This is the model that won Alpine outright victory in the 1978 Le Mans 24 Hours, with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi. Its success was the culmination of five years of work, the A 442B evolving from the first normally-aspirated A 440, the A 441 and then the turbocharged 442. There were many wins in Sport world championship events on the way, but plenty of heartache before Alpine’s ultimate goal was scored.
The A 442B was powered by a 2.1 litre turbocharged V6, hit a staggering 223mph on the Mulsanne straight and set what was then the fastest ever lap time recorded by an Alpine at La Sarthe. On the day of its victory Renault President and CEO Bernard Hanon, who had set Alpine’s Le Mans goal, announced that the team would withdraw from endurance racing to contest Formula One.
Each day, René Arnoux will pilot the A442b up the Goodwood hill climb. René’s motor racing career spans 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989), competing in 165 World Championship Grand Prix, winning seven of them, achieving 22 podium finishes and scoring 181 career points.
Signatech-Alpine A450b
Fresh from its battles at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race, the Alpine 450b has been racing in this year’s World Endurance Championship, which is a step up from the European Le Mans (ELMS) championship that the Signatech-Alpine team has won for the past two years.
With these two successful seasons under its belt, Alpine has decided to turn up its programme a notch in 2015, the Alpine A450b appearing at all eight rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
‘The world championship represents a whole new challenge,’ says Alpine’s CEO, Bernard Ollivier. ‘The context will be very different because our aim will be to make a name for ourselves in the LM P2 class. It will be a chance for us not only to keep learning but also to showcase our ability in parts of the world that are important for our brand. This programme will benefit Alpine’s image across the globe.’
As a tribute to the Alpines which raced at Le Mans in the 1970s, the 'LM P2' prototype by Signatech-Alpine has been christened 'Alpine A450'.
Although Alpine is looking very much towards the future, it has not forgotten its extraordinary heritage. The Alpine A450 name raced at and – in the case of the A442B – won at Le Mans in the 1970s.
The 450b is driven in the WEC by Paul-Loup Chatain, Nelson Panciatici and Vincent Capillaire.
– Alpine books available from Veloce –
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